Separator



c. J. was-rm Aug. 9, 938.

SEPARATOR Original Filed may 23, -1934 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 \mun I Patented-Aug. 9, 1938 e PATEN OFFICE I BEPABATOB Charles J. Wcstin, Philadelphia, Pa, assignor v to F. J. Stokes Machine Company, a corporation of Pennsylvania 128,006. C 193c, Serial No. 90,195

Original application May as, 1934, Serial ,No. Divided and this application July 11,

2 Claims. (pl. 183-94) This invention relates to separators and in particular' to constructionsdor separating vaporized liduids, or mist, from gases. My invention is particularly useful in connection with vacuum 5 pumps for separating vaporized oil from the discharge gases of the pump, although it may be used in any situation for separating vaporized liquids from gases. This application is a division of my copending application Ser. No. 728,006, filed May 28, 1934, which became Patent No. 2,073,188, Mar. 9, 1937.

In order to operate a vacuum pump at practical efliciency, all moving parts must be machined to close fits or small clearances so that they will cooperate throughout the cycle with the lubricating and sealing medium in forming a perfect or nearly perfect seal betweenthe high and low pressure sides of the pump. It is of utmost importance that the sealing medium entering the pump system should be demuisifled or freed of all air, gases or water. The sealing medium, of course, is brought in close contact with all the moving parts of the pump and should therefore embody "such properties as make 5 it suitable as a lubricating medium. The sealing-lubricating medium, which hereafter will be referred to merely as oil will therefore serve a dual purpose and should have certain desirable properties, such as low percentage of volatile constituent and a low demulsibility. Oil will, however, absorb gas in considerable quantities, particularly when churned around with gas under pressure as is the case in machines ofthe type here described. As the oil is continuallycirculating from atmospheric pressure, throughthe low pressure stage approaching the high pressure, and being expelled at high pressure into ,atmospheric pressure again, it is bound to become more and more polluted, thereby gradually decreasing 40 the efficiency of the pump. Furthermore, theoil and gas are discharged at considerable speed and pressure through comparatively small discharge ports, and this has a tendency to vaporize or atomize some of'the oil, which vapors or atomized oil would pass oil? with the gas and be lost unless properly trapped and separated from the free gases before these reach the outside space.

In my copending application Ser. No. 724,974 filed May, 10,1934, which became Pat. No. 2,- 070,151, Feb. 9, 1937, I show an arrangement for separating vaporized oil from the discharge gases of the vacuum pump wherein the gases are led from the discharge chamber of the pump through the space above-the oil reservoir'located in the base of tlie pump and out to the atmosphere, In

this prior arrangements, separator is located within the base of'the pump for separating the vaporized oil from gases as they pass through the base.

In medium sized and larger pumps of .for example 50 cubic feet capacity and over, I find that, on account of the large volume of gases handled, the separator should be of considerable size to effectively devaporize the gases. For this reason it is preferable to place the separator outside the housing or oil reservoir. It is also a convenience in manufacture.

I have also found it very helpful to chill the gases as they enter the separator so as to cool and condense out the vapors entrained in the hot gases.

An object'of my invention is to provide a novel separator structure for separating vaporized oil or liquids from the exhaust gases, the separator being formed as an independent unit mounted upon the base of the pump and having a duct for returning the condensed or separated oil to the oil reservoir within the base of the pump.

The principles of constructionhnd novel arrangement of parts will be readily understood by reference to the annexed specification and draw- In the drawings, Figure 1 is ave'rtical view of my invention showing'the pump with the exhaust separator, the pump being shown in full section and the separator in part section;

Figure 2 is a vertical section showing the details of construction of the separator unit;

Figure 3 is a sectional view of Fig. 2 taken along line 3-3; and

Figure 4 is a sectional view of Fig. 2 taken along line 4-4.

full length of cylinder I2 and beingclosed at both ends by extensions on the cylinder endplates. The inlet compartment l5 has a lateral extension ii to which an intake connection it is secured; Alongside theintake compartment IS in the extension of housing i0 is formed the outlet compartment II with suitable accommodations for the outlet valve assembly i8 arranged medium in the outlet compartment I1 to com pletely cover or'submerge the outlet valve ar-- ranged over ports It, only the excess of sealing medium spilling over the darn 22 and escaping down into the base ll together with the free gases and vapors. The details of the outlet valve construction are fully described and claimed in my copending application Ber. No. 724,974, filed May 10, 1934.

Throughthe center of cylinder I2 is mounted a shaft 22 with supporting hearings in the cylinder end-plates and driven from any suitable source of power. Keyed or otherwise fastened to shaft 23 is the rotary eccentric 2| which carries on the outer surface the tube-shaped oscillating piston 25. A slide valve 28 is fastened to the piston 25 by means of a hinge 21 of suchconstruction as to provide a gas-tight and flexible connection between piston 25 and valve 28. This construction is described in greater detail and is claimed in the Sleeper and Westin patent referred to above. Through this connection valve 26 receives a reciprocating rectilineal motion in the rectangular inlet compartment l5, and as the valve 26 slides back and forth, the inlet ports 28 5 in the valve connect. the inlet compartment [5 with the cylinder 12 at the proper time in the cycle.

All discharge gases, vapors and oil must. pass over dam 22, through passages 2i and I 4 down into the oil reservoir in the base II. This reservoir is of such construction as to provide ample space for the storing of the sealing medium or oil and also provides head-room or air space above-the oil level for the gases to pass on to the separator 53 mounted upon a lateral extension lla of the base II. Connections are made from an oil filter 30 in the reservoir ll, through pipe line 3| to a valve 32,, through which clean 01] is drawn into the reciprocating valve chamber for lubricating and sealing purposes. A cooling coil 33 is usually provided in reservoir 4! and materially aids in keeping the operating temperature of the pump low by cooling the oil. Coil 33 is connected to the space l3 by pipe 34 for circulation of water through the coil.

be used in the base but to get satisfactory separation these parts would have to be so large as to make the size of the base out of proportion. I, therefore, prefer to place a separator 53 of suitable size outside of the housing or'reservoir and lead the gases and vapors from the reservoir into the separator through the duct 52 formed by extension Ha on which the separator is supported.

Itis desirable that onlythe gases are allowed to pass off while the oil entrained in the gases or vaporized during the cycle of operation is separated out and returned to the reservoir for recirculation. Without proper means for perfect separation a considerable volume of vapors pass out into the surrounding room, particu- A separator and other baiile arrangement may larly when starting the pump or when operatingat low pressures, thus filling the room with disagreeable smoke. While, of course, it is possible to eliminate the smoke nuisance by connecting the discharge to the outside of the building, this does not prevent the resulting waste of good lubricating and sealing oil.

The above cliiilculties and losses have been eliminated through the use of separators constructed according to my invention. The separator construction is formed as a unitary tructure bolted-to a flange on base extension Ila. The separator consists of a :casing 53, which may be ofany outline, but for the sake of simplicity it is here shownas a cylinder. The bottom N has two openings Tcommunicating with the hollow base II. The large opening 56 provides free passage for gases and vapors from outlet duct 52 into the separator. It will be noticed that a rim 5! is provided around open- .ing 58. This rim forms an annular reservoir surrounding the inlet opening 56 and serves the purpose of keeping the separated oil from running back into the duct 52 where the current of gases may tend to retard the fiowback into the reservoir or might pick up some additional oil part1 cles.- The oil flows back through the return passage or opening 55, which has a pipe 58 leading level.

The top or head I9 of the separator has an exhaust connection 80 which may be-a' pipe line or duct through which the obnoxious gases may be discharged'outside oi the building.

The separator casing may be of any suitable diameter and height to accommodate the proper size and'number of shelves 0!. bafiies necessary for proper separation. The spacing of the baflles should be'such that the current of gases will pass through at a comparatively rapid rate of flow without creating any noticeable back-pressure. At the same time it is desirable to arrange the babies so that the current will strike against the bathe-surfaces, causing some of the entrained oil to adhere to these.as well as force the current to make short bends or turns where the heavier all particles are thrown against each other and unite into drops which fall down onto the sloping baffle surfaces below.

The whole separator casing may be filled with cooled bailles of the hollow-shelf type or with a combination of plain and cooled type as shown in Figures 2 to 4. A plain type of baiiie is one of the simple plate construction as compared with the hollow box-like shelf or baiile which will be referred to as cooling shelves or cooling bailies.

-In the construction shown, the casing 53 is I provided with a number of baflles arranged across the casing, extending alternately from opposite sides of the casing past the middle thereof, thereby forming a zigzag path for the gases passing through the separator.

The first few shelves or bailies GI, 62 and 63 adjacent the inlet opening 56 are made hollow and have connections so that a cooling medium, such as water, may be circulated through them to chill the gases and vapors as they enter the separator; The various shelves 6| 62 and 63 are connected by communicating passages such as the hollow partitions or ducts 64 and 64a. to permit the cooling fiuid to be passed from one baflie to another. The water enters at B5, circulates through the hollow baiiles and is discharged at 56. The edge 12 of the baifle which comes nearest the open passage will bereferred to here i as the front of the baflie or shelf.

It will be noticed that the bafllesare mounted at an angle with the horizontal, sloping down diagonally towards the front as well as towards one side of the front edge. The reason for this slope or incline is to guide the oil collecting on top of the shelf towards one side where it will run down along the wall of the separator casing instead of,as otherwise might happen, anywhere and everywhere along the front edge in the path of the current. The angle of slope may be any suitable angle as long as the slope is sufficient to make the oil run off fast enough to prevent the forming of a drop. It will be noticed from the drawings that the first shelf 6| is supported in the separator so that it has an incline slope from right to left or from the casing to the right sloping down past the center to the front. At the same time it should also be noted that the far side of the shelf is higher than the near side,-

that is, the, shelf is sloping from the far side wall to the near side wall and thus has a slope in two directions. The other shelves and baflles are arranged in a similar manner.

Another novel feature is the provision of a gutter 61 under the-front edge of each bafiie. The current of gases and vapors will strike against the bottom of the battle and a portion of the entrained oil. will adhere to this surface. When a suflicient quantity of oil has accumulated on the surface, this will flow towards the front and, instead of dropping off in the path of the current, will be collected in the gutter and run to the side and then down the wall of the casing. Thus, means are provided to prevent reabsorption of any oil which has been removed from the gases. It will be understood that the gutters 61 are not essential but will improve the efficiency of the separator.

The plain baflies consist of flat plates 68 which may or may nothave gutters 69 of similar construction to 61 and serve the same purpose as described for'the gutters on the cooling baffles.

I prefer to arrange the plain baffles 68 according to the same principles described for the cooling baflles, that is, with the surfaces suitably sloping towards the front and one side in order to provide for the proper draining of the 011. For certain vacuum work I have found that the plain baffles 68 are quite satisfactory, and, of course, considerably cheaper to manufacture, and therefore a separator having only plain baffles would mean a considerable economy.

It will be observed that in the construction shown, the exhaust gases from the pump first pass from the outlet valve chamber I'I down through the passage I 4 into the air space above the oil res'ervoir 4| in the base of thepump, and then out through the separator 53. By this arrangement, the gases are first freed of all oil which may be separated by gravity, and are partially cooled by passing over the oil reservoir before they reach the separator. In this way, a partial separation takes place as the gases flow through the air space above the reservoir, and the separator acts with greater efliciency in completing the separation process.

that all modifications which fall within the terms.

of the appended claims are to be considered as falling within the scope of my invention.

What I claim is:

1. In a separator construction, a casing having inlet and outlet-ports, a plurality of hollow baflle plates arranged within said casing and extending alternately from opposite sides of said casing past the middle thereof, means for circulating cooling fluid through said hollow plates, and gutters arranged on the front edges of said plates for collecting condensate from the bottom surface of the plates and conducting the same to the side walls of said casing.

2. In a separator construction, a vertical casing having an inlet at the bottom and an outlet at the top, a plurality of baffle plates arranged within said casing and extending alternately from opposite sides of said casing past the middle thereof, said baiiie plates being sloped towards the front edges thereof and the front edges being arranged at an angle to the horizontal, and gutters arranged on the front edges of said plates for collecting liquid deposited on the bottom surfaces of said plates' and conducting the same to the side walls of said casing.

CHARLES J. WESTIN. 

